antelope island – Page 47 – Feathered Photography

A Banner Year For Coyotes On Antelope Island

If you think this coyote looks befuddled, you’re right. 1/1250, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm As it crossed the road right in front of me (about two weeks ago) it suddenly stopped in complete bewilderment because it could feel something on the left side of its neck, but when it turned to investigate the young coyote apparently couldn’t see what it was because the object was too close to its head and it was hidden in the crease of the neck. 1/1250, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm The offending object was a clump of grass which I could finally see when the coyote was able to nudge the bottom of the clump with its jaw and push it up where it was visible. 1/1650, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm The youngster finally got the grass clump pulled away from its fur, held it for a few moments in triumph and then unceremoniously dropped it and continued across the road… 1/800, f/6.3/, ISO 400, 100-400 @180mm where it captured a vole in less than two minutes. 1/640, f/5.6/, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc About a week ago I found this coyote staring at me in the early morning light. I love this warm light in the grassy setting. To me it almost looks like the coyote is smiling at me. 1/640, f/7.1/, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And on the same morning, about 20 minutes later, another coyote crossed the road in front of me and proceeded to…

Red-tailed Hawk Double Serendipity

One of the frustrations with photographing birds on Antelope Island is the perches. There aren’t many trees on the island so many of the birds perch on the rocks. The rocks on the north end of the island are primarily Tintic Quartzite which is almost white in color, so getting the exposure right when a darker bird is perched on them is problematic. And even when you do get the overall exposure right, those white perches just don’t have a lot of visual appeal for me. The rocks on the southern 2/3 of the island are of a geologic formation called the Farmington Canyon Complex. They’re some of the oldest rocks on earth (2.7 billion years) and they’re significantly darker in color so they make much more aesthetically appealing perches for bird photography. The problem is that most of these rocks are relatively far from the road so I have very few images of birds perched on them. Almost every day we’re on the island (usually several times per week) Mia or I will comment about our frustrations in getting quality shots of birds on these dark and dramatic looking rocks. Last week our luck changed. Not only did we get a bird on those rocks – it was a raptor (yes, I’m a raptor freak), it was in good light and it let us get close for a good long while. And as you’ll see, it even approached us! 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Mia spotted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk first (she usually does. After all I have to drive…) but…

Juvenile Burrowing Owl In Flight

This morning was the first time we’ve been out photographing since our Montana trip. I’ll post more images from Big Sky Country soon but I thought I’d break it up a bit with a couple of photos from this morning. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The juvenile Burrowing Owls were quite active at just the right time – when the sun was still low but high enough to give me enough light and shutter speed that I didn’t have to crank up my ISO too far. I haven’t had a lot of luck with Burrowing Owls in full flight so I was quite pleased with this shot even though I had to add a bit of canvas to the image for composition. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These youngsters are beginning to show some signs of maturing by the development of more color on the breast. As you can see, this is one of the young birds that has been banded.It’s very entertaining to watch these juveniles. In the morning before it gets too hot they often fly from perch to nearby perch and when they’re on the ground they seem to enjoy manipulating objects like twigs and leaves and nibbling on flowers. They interact with each other with the enthusiasm of youth. The problem for the photographer is that when they’re on the ground it’s virtually impossible to get a clear shot of them through all the vegetation. I really enjoy these little guys. Ron

Storm Clouds Over Antelope Island

Last Wednesday, June 11, was an interesting day to be on Antelope Island. We need good light for bird photography and clouds usually don’t cut it for us (much different from landscape photography, I know) so we’re seldom out there when it’s overcast. But the forecast called for clearing so we took a chance and left home right after 5:30 so we could be there at sunrise. It turned out to be mostly cloudy all morning so we didn’t have much luck with birds but the clouds and light gave us some dramatic vistas that I couldn’t help but photograph. 1/200, f/9, ISO 400, 17-85mm @17mm, hand-held Just after sunrise we had this view of the island from the causeway. I liked the unusual combination of fearfully dark clouds with no wind which made the water almost as smooth as glass for some interesting reflections. The cluster of American Avocets on the right added to the natural scene for me. 1/640, f/9, ISO 400, 17-85mm @17mm, hand-held Traveling south on the island I liked the play of light on the clouds, prairie grasses and sagebrush to go along with the curved horizon line. I’m certainly no landscape photographer and have no plans to give up my “day job” photographing birds but I couldn’t resist sharing a couple of images from that wonderful morning. Ron

Antelope Island – A Smorgasbord For Coyotes

A lot of folks don’t like coyotes but I’m in a different camp. I have great admiration for their adaptability, hunting skills, intelligence and communication abilities. Over the past few years I’ve had many opportunities to observe their behaviors on Antelope Island which has made me an even bigger fan of this amazing canid. To watch a coyote hunt is a fascinating experience. This post is meant as a documentation of the opportunistic feeding tendencies of the species rather than as a showcase for technically perfect photos. Getting clear shots of any mammal on the ground (as opposed to perched or flying birds) is a rarity because of all of the grasses, sunflowers, sagebrush, rabbitbrush and moth mullein the photographer has to shoot through on the island. So there’s lots of “stuff” in front of the coyote in some of these shots and a couple of them are sizeable crops but I think their prey tendencies are documented reasonably well by the images. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Coyotes eat a lot of voles – prodigious numbers of them in fact. I’ve seen a single animal catch and consume 4-5 voles in the same area within just a few minutes and I’ve seen it several times. 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But they’ll also take birds when they can catch them. This coyote was returning from the lake shoreline with an unusual prize – some kind of waterfowl. From the position of the leg attachment at the back of the body I’d guess…

A Plea For Respect For The Burrowing Owl

If there’s a group of birds on the face of the earth that is almost universally loved it seems to me that it would have to be owls. Many folks are captivated by them for their large forward-facing eyes, quizzical expressions, eerie vocalizations and the sense of mystery provided by their generally nocturnal habits. Others appreciate their many unique adaptations, such as silent flight and their ability to turn their heads 270 degrees. There’s just something about owls… 1/640, f/9, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And for many of us Burrowing Owls are at the pinnacle of that adoration. Their comical antics, especially those of the juveniles, tug at our heartstrings and make us smile. And they’re more accessible to viewing than are most owls because they’re active during daylight and spend much of their time on the ground close to their burrows instead of being hidden high up in trees. The flip-side to all this is that Burrowing Owls are extremely vulnerable to unthinking human intrusion – especially while they’re nesting and caring for chicks or juveniles. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In Utah the burrows of these owls are typically found among sagebrush, which they often use as perches during early morning. This allows the patient and ethical birder or photographer a good look at the birds without having to get too close in order to see through the vegetation usually found in the burrow area. It’s not unusual for Burrowing Owls to nest close to roads and when they do…

Loggerhead Shrike Take-offs

One of my current projects is take-off shots of Loggerhead Shrikes and I’m finding it to be unexpectedly difficult to get the quality I want. Take-offs of small birds are challenging by definition but I have quite a few that I like of other species so I’m a bit surprised that I’m struggling so with the shrikes. This past week I’ve had at least some success and these two are the best of the lot so far. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc On Tuesday morning this shrike gave me nice eye contact as it launched from its perch and I had good light and a clean background but I’m a bit surprised that the wings aren’t sharper. I doubt that it’s motion blur at 1/3200 and I was far enough away from the bird that I thought f/6.3 would give me more depth of field than this. Live and learn… 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Two mornings later I was photographing this shrike perched when an insect that interested it flew overhead. The bird has its eye on the bug as it’s taking off. This has been the best year on Antelope Island for Loggerhead Shrikes that I can remember as they seem to have had very good success so far in raising their broods. And with the plethora of huge orb-weaver spiders just coming on, things should only get better out there for shrikes. They love to eat those nasty looking spiders and feed them to their chicks. Which should mean more practice for me…

Some Recent Shots I Like, Despite Some Flaws

Like every other bird photographer many of the photos I take are not worth keeping. For the first few years I was shooting birds I estimated that I deleted 90% of my images. Now that I’ve become a little more discriminating that number is probably closer to 95%. Birds are incredibly difficult subjects – they’re fast, unpredictable, difficult to approach and generally uncooperative. When I’m culling images after a day in the field most shots fall under two main categories – keepers and garbage. But there’s often a few that are technically lacking for one reason or another but have some unusual or especially interesting feature that makes it difficult for me to trash them. So I don’t. Occasionally I go back through them just for the fun of it. I enjoy them and thought some of you might too so here’s a few from the past month or so. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This one’s from yesterday – a Lark Sparrow that posed and groomed for us for quite a while. Looking through the viewfinder I had no idea there was a second Lark Sparrow in the vicinity and didn’t even notice it flying through the frame until I got home and looked at it on my computer. Mia said that she’d noticed the second bird and that it chased the first bird away when it flew. Anyway, I thought the out-of-focus sparrow to the left was an interesting serendipity. I just wish the two twigs by the head weren’t there. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4…

An Itchy, Fidgety Burrowing Owl On A Wiggly Perch

It all started with an itch. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Two days ago just as the sun was coming up over the Wasatch we found this adult Burrowing Owl perched on a dried sunflower. The lower background is the Great Salt Lake. The bird was sunning itself and pretty static and I was hoping for some kind of action. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Then it tried to scratch its face while perched on this spindly and unstable perch and that’s when the action began. (Full disclosure – this shot is a little out-of-order but it shows the scratching behavior better than any I got at the very beginning – it tried to scratch the same spot on its face several times during this sequence). 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Every time the owl tried to scratch its face the sunflower stem would move around and throw the bird off-balance so the wings would go out and I got some interesting poses in nice light. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I was able to get many images of the balancing act as it progressed but the owl was sidelit so in quite a few of them one or both of the wings and one side of the face were in shadow. These are the images with the best pose and light combinations that I was able to get. The secondary wing feathers seem to be still growing in from a recent molt. …

Burrowing Owl Against A Clean Background

A few days ago we found this adult Burrowing Owl in early morning light and perched high on some rabbitbrush with the Great Salt Lake as background. After I got the pickup stopped it only gave me a second or two of posing before it flew off. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Most of my images of this species show the bird on the ground with a cluttered setting so I like the cleanness of this image. I also enjoy the fact that with the sun so low both eyes are well-lit even at the top of the corneas where there’s usually some shadow from the brows. If I’d had more time I’d have adjusted my settings to get more depth of field for the tail but sometimes, just occasionally :-), birds don’t cooperate with my best intentions… Ron

Rough-legged Hawk on Tamarisk

I’ve said before that for me the Rough-legged Hawk is among the most handsome of North American raptors. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this bird perched on some tamarisk just below an elevated road on Antelope Island and was able to get some shots I like as it lifted off. I’ve posted another image of the sequence here. In late April of this year state park personnel cut down the stand of tamarisk. I fully understand the need to get rid of them because tamarisk is an invasive plant that is widely believed to degrade native wildlife habitat and disrupt the structure and stability of North American native plant communities. That said I will miss them as there aren’t many elevated and attractive natural perches on the island. Ron

Lark Sparrow

I’ve never had much luck with Lark Sparrows but this spring my fortunes with them have improved. It seems to be a banner year for them on Antelope Island and some of them even cooperate occasionally. In fact, most of the images in this post are of the same bird. It was so intent on its singing and territory declaration that it flew from perch to perch for quite a while and gave us some close looks. 1/1600, f/10, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These are large, long-tailed sparrows with a distinctive chestnut, black and white facial pattern that gives them a harlequin look. The sparrow is perched on a dried sunflower with significant depth so I went to f/10 for this shot to try to get as many of the seed heads as sharp as possible. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In this shot the same sparrow is changing its position on a sagebrush perch and I was able to catch it with a wing and tail position that I like. I do wish there were no sage leaves behind the head though. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc After it settled its position on the sage it gave me some nice eye contact. 1/3200, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’ve said before on this blog how much I enjoy sage perches but they’re not without their problems for the photographer. Dead twigs from last years growth often stick up above the…

Curlew Peekaboo Take-off

When Long-billed Curlews take off they have a little trick they use to get airborne quickly. This is our largest North American shorebird and in addition to their extremely long bill they have very long legs. Since this is a grassland species it would often be very difficult to get a running start at take-off through the tall vegetation so they use their long legs to full advantage by crouching so low that their belly often touches the ground and then they spring into the air by quickly straightening those very long legs (jumping). This can be problematic for the photographer wishing to get take-off shots because this is a large bird and they explode into the air so quickly that you tend to either cut off part of the bird or lose focus on the subject at the most critical point of the take-off. But knowing and anticipating their behavior can give you a better chance at a quality shot or two. These three images from yesterday on Antelope Island are sequential in a quick burst at take-off. The first two are of crappy quality but I include them to illustrate my point. Here the curlew has crouched as low as it can get prior to take-off. I temporarily lost sharp focus on the head because of the foreground vegetation and because of camera movement as I moved my aim upwards in an attempt to get the entire bird in the frame as it lifted off. In the second shot of the burst, focus has locked onto the bird again as…

A Mixed Bag Of Recent Birds

These images were all taken over the last eight days, either at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge or Antelope Island. Another one of my “potpourri” posts with no common theme except “feathers”. 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4 The Willets have finally come up on the island for their mating activities (as opposed to the shoreline for recuperation after migration) and I like to try to catch them perched high on the sagebrush where they call loudly to other Willets. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Western Meadowlarks are in their glory right now and their distinctive songs reverberate all over the island. 1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I got closer to this one than I usually can. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 This Loggerhead Shrike was grooming peacefully when I noticed a distinct change in its behavior. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 A Common Raven flew low overhead and this was the shrike’s reaction. It flattened its body out almost into a bullet shape and pointed that bullet at the raven as it passed. I’m guessing it was an instinctive behavior to present the smallest profile possible to a larger bird that might be a potential threat. It was comical to watch it turn as the raven flew by to keep its body pointed in the larger birds direction. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’m always happy to catch a Chukar perched on a boulder, especially when it isn’t one of the…

Behaving Badly On Antelope Island

Mia and I spend an inordinate amount of time on Antelope Island photographing birds so naturally we run across a lot of other folks out there enjoying that wonderful place too – hikers, photographers, campers, swimmers, educational groups and everyday sightseers to name a few. Most of the people who visit the island seem to be considerate of others and mindful of the regulations in place that are meant to make a visit to the island an enjoyable experience for all and protect the natural assets of this jewel in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. There are glaring exceptions though and occasionally (all too often) we see folks doing things that leave us shaking our heads in bewilderment. I decided to post about this issue in the hope that it might be a reminder to some of the “fringe element” who may be considering a visit to the island that if you flaunt the rules you may pay a price. Where recognizable, faces have been blurred in these photos. If the image file numbers (seen by passing your cursor over the photo) don’t seem to make logical, sequential sense it’s because I used multiple cameras and lenses for the images. Last Friday morning as we left Bridger Bay Campground we noticed that this guy in a Jeep had decided to go for a cross-country joy ride across the prairie grasses to get a closer look at a couple of bison, despite the fact that they’re nearly always easy to find right next to the road. In the foreground you can see the…

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